SANTA ROSA, Calif.– Redwood Credit Union said it has responded to the recent Kincade Fire in numerous ways to provide support to affected members, employees, and communities.
At the same time, the FFIEC has just announced revisions to its Business Continuity Management Booklet for examiners, as detailed below.
In Northern California, Redwood Credit Union said the widespread power outages, mandatory evacuations, and the fire itself affected much of its field of membership after first igniting approximately 40 miles north of its main office.
Redwood Credit Union has been well recognized in its community and lauded for its efforts in support of people affected by California’s wildfires.
According to RCU, support for its employees during the Kincade Fire included:
- Opening its main offices as an evacuation shelter for employees, their families and pets, and providing them with showers, toiletries, sleeping bags, pillows, sleeping mats, and meals (prepared by the CEO and executive team).
- Allowing employees to bring their children to work due to school closures. Onsite day care was also provided.
- Deployment of air scrubbers at all affected branch and office locations to combat poor air quality from the smoke.
- A two-way telephone/text communication system so RCU could efficiently communicate with employees to share information and check in on their well-being.
- Allowing employees to work remotely until mandatory evacuations were lifted.
- Supplying free, hearty meals to employees.
- Providing payment of lost wages to employees due to the events.
Support for Members
Redwood Credit Union said support for its members included:
- Maintaining services at all ATMs and all branches except two (which were in mandatory evacuation zones).
- At one point, operating nine branches on generator power because of extensive power outages throughout the region.
- In some areas, RCU said it was the only financial institution and/or ATM operating during the outages.
- In affected areas, branches were equipped with air purifiers so people could visit RCU branches to breathe fresh air, have a cup of coffee, and use WiFi to connect with family and friends.
- Availability of online and mobile banking.
- Ongoing updates of information on website and social channels to keep members and the community informed of available services.
- Financial assistance programs to support members impacted by the fire and evacuations, including 0% interest loans up to $5,000 for urgent needs; discounted loans for autos, trailers, and RVs for those who lost vehicles or housing in the fires; automatic increases of credit and debit card limits; reimbursement of out-of-network ATM fees so members who had evacuated out of the area could get cash; direct deposits were processed a day early to give members quicker access to their funds; loan and credit card payment relief, and overdraft and late fee reversals.
Support For Community
Redwood said its support for its communities has included:
- Providing a generator to Sonoma County Office of Emergency Services to operate a water treatment plant.
- The purchase and donation of goods including blankets, towels, space heaters, fans, and sundries to support up to 800 evacuees in local shelters.
- Providing a free barbeque for local fire and police departments.
- Partnership with a local pizza restaurant to supply free meals to nearly 300 evacuees and first responders.
- Providing tri-tip dinner at a family-appreciation event for 150 first responders and their families.
- Providing tri-tip dinner to 150 low-income housing residents who were evacuated.
- Partnering with the city of Healdsburg as a presenting sponsor of its “Welcome Home” event for the community.
- Volunteering at the local assistance center to help fire survivors connect with the resources they need.
- Coordination of multiple volunteer efforts with local food banks.
“Our mission is serving the needs of our members, employees and communities. In times of disaster, our focus is to make sure our employees are safe, to ensure our members have access to their money, and to support our community’s needs during and after the event,” said Brett Martinez, president and CEO of RCU. “We have a strong disaster plan in place and an amazing dedicated team that allows us to make these things happen.”
Updated Biz Continuity Booklet
At the same time Redwood CU has offered an update on its business continuity efforts, members of the Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council (FFIEC), which includes NCUA, issued a statement emphasizing that examiners understand how management of FIs and third-party service providers have prepared their operations to avoid disruptions and to recover services.
The updated Business Continuity Management booklet focuses on enterprise-wide approaches that address technology, business operations, testing, and communication strategies critical to the continuity of the business. The booklet describes principles and practices for information technology (IT) and operations designed to achieve safety and soundness, consumer financial protection, and compliance with applicable laws, regulations, and rules, the FFIEC said.
“As the booklet makes clear, business continuity focuses on more than just the planning process to recover operations after an event,” the FFIEC said. “Business continuity also includes the continued maintenance of systems and controls for the resilience and continuity of operations. Business continuity is an integral part of the risk management life cycle of an entity’s systems, processes, and operations.”
The IT Handbook is available at http://ithandbook.ffiec.gov/.